‘Govt committed to promoting religious freedom’

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali has said the government is committed to promoting religious freedom and communal harmony.
The Foreign Minister reiterated the commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government to promoting religious freedom and communal harmony in the society of Bangladesh when he held a meeting with US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel D Brownback at the US Department of State in Washington, DC on Wednesday, according to a press release received on Thursday.
Brownback, also former Governor of Kansas and a US Senator, welcomed the Bangladesh Foreign Minister and exchanged views on advancing religious freedom.
He thanked Mahmood Ali for accepting the invitation of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to participate in the first ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom (MARF) being held from July 25 to 26 at the US Department of State.
During the meeting, Mahmood Ali elaborated different aspects of religious freedom being practiced in Bangladesh, and the mass celebration of Bangla New Year, a truly secular national festival, which brings together people of all faiths, as well as recitation from the Holy Book of all major religions at the beginning of any national event.
He said there is a resonance of religious freedom in Bangladesh as the
US is organising the Ministerial.
Ambassador Brownback said MARF is aimed at establishing a global standard for ensuring religious freedom regardless of countries.
He highly appreciated Bangladesh’s role in hosting 1.1 million forcibly
displaced Rohingya people from Myanmar irrespective of their faiths.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh and the USA along with their friends and partners would continue to ensure and advance religious freedom for the peoples.